Back in November, when Dan Girardi was left off the All-Star ballot, John Tortorella called the NHL “ass-backwards” for not including Girardi.

On Friday, while he met with the media, John Tortorella told the NY Times said that the selection of Girardi was the right move by the NHL:

“I think sometimes our league forgets about people like that. That restores a little faith for me, that the league stepped up and when it was clear it was deserved, and gave it to him. It’s not just pedigree, it’s what he’s done on the ice. I couldn’t be happier.”

Tortorella told Nick Cotsonika of Yahoo Sports that Girardi is a top guy and this is an overdue honor for him, “He is a core foundation guy for us, and I’ll put him with anybody as far as one of the top defensemen in our league. This is a year or two overdue as far as what he’s done for our organization, so it’s a great story.”

Girardi said, before he was picked, that he didn’t care about going to the All-Star game.

Mark Herman has more on Girardi at Newsday. Craig Custance has more on him at ESPN.com.

The reaction that John Tortorella had on the bench after it was thought that Girardi scored was priceless. It looked like it made the whole weekend for him and validated everything that he had said about Girardi.